Cheesecake Factory blames the media for blowing incident with black customer in a MAGA hat ‘out of proportion’

The Cheesecake Factory announced that it has suspended the employees who berated a black customer who dared wear a MAGA hat to the chain’s Dadeland Mall location in Miami for a Mother’s Day meal with his family:

Cheesecake Factory says it has suspended workers involved in an incident in which a black customer reportedly was subjected to verbal abuse by restaurant staff over his "Make America Great Again" cap: https://t.co/8nFeNZJCBNpic.twitter.com/jJ8OXgBNZI

“Upon learning of this incident, we immediately apologized to the guests in person,” a Cheesecake Factory spokesperson stated in an email to CBS MoneyWatch. “The individuals involved in the incident have been suspended pending the results of our investigation.”

We assume “suspended” will changed to “fired” once the investigation is complete:

The statement from corporate doesn’t say how many employees were suspended, but according to The Daily Wire there were “a dozen or so” involved in the verbal abuse:

At that point, approximately a dozen or so employees approached the table and began making comments about the hat, with some saying they wanted to punch Joseph in the face. Witnesses also allege that some of the employees also referred to him as a “n**ger” in their conversations among each other.

“So then all the employees started standing there, saying things out loud, like, ‘I’m going to knock his head in so hard his hat’s going to come off,” the witness continued.

Two of the employees involved have already left the company according to another report. The company also blames the media for blowing the incident “out of proportion”:

Two employees who made “disparaging remarks” about a customer’s “Make America Great Again” cap are no longer employed at The Cheesecake Factory, the company said Wednesday. However, the casual-dining chain believes the incident is being blown out of proportion. […]

“Not all of the information reported by the media accurately portrays what occurred,” a Cheesecake Factory spokesperson told CBS MoneyWatch in a statement. “The situation may have been exacerbated by an all-staff meeting that took place during our shift change between our staff members working the lunch and dinner shifts – which may have been perceived as a crowd gathering near the guests’ tables.”

Imagine if Starbucks tried to say the incident in Philadelphia was just blown out of proportion?

Mr. Joseph sat down with “Fox & Friends this morning to say, “This is America, everyone should be entitled to their own opinions, own beliefs”: